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Denmark takes Madison gold

Pendleton scores another sprint title

By Agence France Presse
Published: Mar. 28, 2009
UCI world track championships-Day 4: The Danes pick up another gold in the Madison.
UCI world track championships-Day 4: The Danes pick up another gold in the Madison.
Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Denmark relieved Britain of yet another world crown when they won the men's Madison gold at the world track cycling championships in Pruszkow, Poland, Saturday.

Australia took the silver with the Czech Republic claiming the bronze.

Defending champions Britain, featuring the two-man team of Mark Cavendish and fellow Manxman Peter Kennaugh, finished sixth at a lap down.

Kennaugh suffered a crash before the seventh of the 10 sprints where points can be picked up for the first four riders over the line during the 200-lap race.

The result means Denmark's Alex Rasmussen claims his second gold of the championships.

An Olympic silver medalist in the team pursuit, Rasmussen was part of the Danish team that succeeded Britain as world team pursuit champions on Friday.

Britain started positively in the 50km race, sitting in third place with four points behind Denmark and Belgium after the third of 10 sprints. However, the Czech pairing of Martin Blaha and Jiri Hochmann threw the race wide open when they managed to gain a lap on the peloton prior to the fifth sprint, hoisting them up to first place despite not having claimed any points.

Denmark were a constant threat throughout the remainder, however, and took over pole position when they lapped the field before the ninth sprint.

Australia's Cameron Meyer and Leigh Howard had had a quiet start, picking up only two points at the sixth sprint, but thanks to Meyer, the men's points race winner, they also managed to lap the field to move up to second.

Cavendish, who won four stages on the Tour de France last year with his professional road team Columbia, had come to the championships in a bid to defend the world crown he won last year with Bradley Wiggins.

A former two-time winner of the Madison, Cavendish claimed his first gold, with Rob Hayles, in 2007.

Men’s Sprint

Britain's gold medal hopes in the coveted track cycling sprint competition were virtually crushed by France, and plucky Malaysia in early rounds on Saturday.

English pair Jason Kenny, the Olympic silver medalist, and Matthew Crampton were both ousted by French opposition while Scotland's Ross Edgar was beaten 2 1 in a decider by on-form Malaysian Azizulhasni Awang.

Frenchman Gregory Bauge, the fastest qualifier, has now emerged as the favorite to succeed absent defending champion Sir Chris Hoy after he made light work of Kenny in two straight legs.

Compatriot Kevin Sireau was as equally effective against up and coming Crampton, while Australian Shane Perkins ousted another Frenchman, Mickael Bourgain. However Bauge and Sireau will face each other in the semis, while Perkins, the current World Cup leader, will meet Azizulhasni.

Edgar had pulled level with Awang after the Malaysian took a 1-0 lead with one of his spectacular front wheel jumps at the finish line. But the Scot, an Olympic silver medalist in the keirin, was left rueing a tactical error in the decider when he gave Awang too much of a gap before trying in vain to close it on the final lap.

The semi-finals of the men's sprint, considered the most coveted discipline of track cycling's speed events, will be held Sunday, when the men's final brings the curtain down on the championships.

Women’s sprint

Olympic champion Victoria Pendleton of Britain claimed her fourth world title in the women's sprint on Saturday.

Dutchwoman Willy Kanis took the silver while Lithuanian Simona Krupeckaite took the bronze. Pendleton, the winner of world titles in the coveted speed event in 2008, 2007 and 2005, was given a scare on her way to victory when Kanis took the match to a decider after levelling with a superb second leg performance.

In a tight decider, the 28-year-old Englishwoman had to dig deep as Kanis held firm on the final lap before powering up the home straight to win with a few inches to spare at the finish line.

Moments later, she collapsed in tears into the arms of one of her coaches.

Krupeckaite, the newly-crowned women's world 500m time trial champion, finished off Russian Olga Panarina in the match for the bronze medal.

Krupeckaite was heavily favored to meet Pendleton in the final after winning the women's 500m time trial crown Wednesday in a new world record time.

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